Wow – I am so thrilled!!  One of my students, a chef, texted me specific instructions for making perfect – and this is key – EASY PEEL  – eggs.  Since you may not want to wait, and you have a sudden, immediate urge to make perfect hard boiled eggs, here are the instructions:

1. Place cold water in sauce pan to cover eggs.
2. Bring to a boil.  Turn down a bit.
3. Put a timer on for 8 minutes.
4. When timer goes off drain boiling water and run cold water over eggs for 2 minutes.
5. Eggs should be cool to peel – do it now, do not wait until later.  Run egg under more cold water if necessary.

 

What does this have do with improving your ballroom dancing!?

A LOT.

We approach dancing, like all movement with our habits, some of them not very helpful.  But what is the plan to turn them around?  New directions?

What struck me about following these egg directions to a successful outcome was that I could not wander into my habit of winging it and HOPING that my habitual approach (basically the reverse of the steps above!) would miraculously work, THIS TIME.

I was so accustomed to cutting into eggs that were surprisingly runny, or the shell was completely bound to the egg making peeling an exercise in frustration and cursing.  I think I read instructions on how to do this properly, but still I was stupidly used to failing.

We all keep doing things in the same way, expecting different results.  You probably already know this is the definition of insanity.  But what if we have really helpful directions?

Sometimes it seems that there are just some things that we’re not good at.  I always say that cha cha is hard – a lot going on, fast hip action in the right time, quick cross over breaks, small steps,  (and do not create an angle in your upper body!)  It is most definitely challenging and when I stick to my directions, I can begin to enjoy cha cha.

There is help from our ballroom teachers and coaches yet at the same time we remain exposed due to pesky habits of tension that restrict progress.

I offer a call to action to devise a coordination plan  that manages habits through awareness and  success creating directions -much like our egg project.  

In my next blog, I’ll describe these directions in a way that you can utilize them right away, while you are working on your most challenging style of dance.  Stay tuned!

Happy Dancing!  But let me know if you made the eggs and it worked!

If you know other dancers who may benefit from reading my blog, please forward.

To get my free 10 Steps to Competitive Greatness in PDF format, click here.